Neil deGrasse Tyson Fact-Checks ‘Gravity’; Buzz Aldrin Praises Film’s Realism
Alfonso Cuaron’sGravitylanded with a huge splash this weekend, earning near-unanimous critical praise and exceeding all box office predictions to become the biggest October opening in history. Much of the appeal lay in the film’s verisimilitude. As several reviewers put it,Gravityis the closest that most of us non-astronauts will ever get to space.
But wowing general audiences who don’t know the first thing about actual space travel is one thing. Passing muster with experts is quite another. While astronautBuzz Aldrinwrote that he was “extravagantly impressed,” astrophysicistNeil deGrasse Tysontook to Twitter to point out everything the movie got wrong. Hit the jump to see what they had to say.
I was so extravagantly impressed by the portrayal of the reality of zero gravity. Going through the space station was done just the way that I’ve seen people do it in reality.
Though he noted some imperfections, including the curious lack of clouds over Earth, he concluded that he was “very, very impressed,” and hoped the film would stimulate public interest in space exploration.
In contrast, although TysonacknowledgedthatGravity"depicts a scenario of catastrophic satellite destruction that can actually happen," he couldn’t resist pointing out what details the movie got wrong in its execution of that scenario.
Mysteries of#Gravity: Why Bullock, a medical Doctor, is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson)August 26, 2025
Mysteries of#Gravity: How Hubble (350mi up) ISS (230mi up) & a Chinese Space Station are all in sight lines of one another.
Mysteries of#Gravity: When Clooney releases Bullock’s tether, he drifts away. In zero-G a single tug brings them together.
Mysteries of#Gravity: Why Bullock’s hair, in otherwise convincing zero-G scenes, did not float freely on her head.
Mysteries of#Gravity: Nearly all satellites orbit Earth west to east yet all satellite debris portrayed orbited east to west
Mysteries of#Gravity: Satellite communications were disrupted at 230 mi up, but communications satellites orbit 100x higher.
Mysteries of#Gravity: Astronaut Clooney informs medical doctor Bullock what happens medically during oxygen deprivation.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson)Jun 02, 2025
Tyson’s critiques weren’t limited to the film’s technical blunders — or really, even the film itself.
Mysteries of#Gravity: Why anyone is impressed with a zero-G film 45 years after being impressed with “2001:A Space Odyssey”
Mysteries of#Gravity: Why we enjoy a SciFi film set in make-believe space more than we enjoy actual people set in real space
Like Aldrin, Tyson isn’t shy about speaking up when films get science wrong. Sometimes, Hollywood even listens. James Cameron famouslyupdatedthe star field inTitanicafter Tyson informed him that the map was completely incorrect for the date and time.
But Tyson also understands that these details aren’t everything. DespiteGravity’s many errors, Tyson said he liked the movie overall.
My Tweets hardly ever convey opinion. Mostly perspectives on the world. But if you must know, I enjoyed#Gravityvery much.
